


Due deference

by dimtraces



Series: The blue man [5]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Child Soldiers, Force Ghost Anakin Skywalker, Force-Sensitive Finn, Gen, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-24 01:38:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7488315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimtraces/pseuds/dimtraces
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>FN-2187 had only wanted to protect his friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Due deference

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Physical child abuse, violent imagery, and also a rehash of what Vader did during the OT.

“No,” the blue man shouts, face contorted in fury, and throws himself bodily in front of the officer who had struck Zeroes in the face.

Who was about to hit Zeroes again; the officer who is, currently, raising his truncheon once more, and Zeroes is shaking. Blood is gushing over his left eye, staining his warm brown skin and the cold white shoulder plate, and FN-2187 knows that tonight, his squad-mate will be required to stay awake to scrub the crusted blood off again, as if it had been _his_ _fault_. Scrubbing the plasteel with aching fingers, until it is as pristine as if nothing had happened. Ready to be bathed in blood again for the next minute infraction, if this man has his say, because for some reason, he doesn’t like Zeroes and he has the power, and no-one cares enough to stop him, not even Phasma who thinks soldiers fighting is disunity.

This time it was Zeroes making a joke about the ration bars being especially scrumptious today. Who knows what it’ll be next time? Maybe he’ll say that the sky is blue in the wrong tone of voice. Maybe he’ll _breathe wrong_.

FN-2187 hates the officer whose name he doesn’t even know, and who doesn’t even know their names.

He wants him _gone,_ he wants Zeroes safe _, now_.

The officer grins at Zeroes’ fear. The officer _who the blue man is protecting_ , when FN-2187 had only been about to crush him against the wall with his mind, to let Zeroes get away, a desperate adaption of the tricks the blue man had taught him.

The officer _grins_.

“Do. Not. Move,” the blue man growls at FN-2187, drawing himself up until he is dwarfing the awful scene behind him, “Do not dare move, little one!”, taking step after step towards FN-2187 until he has usurped his field of vision completely, caging him in with his arms, and FN-2187 cowers before him and his cold flashing eyes. The blue man does not move again, and the neon bulbs in the white corridor don’t brighten, but still, it is as if he had sucked all the shadows out of this place.

FN-2187 has never been so afraid.

He’d thought that the blue man was on his side.

That he was _safe_.

The officer strikes Zeroes again, FN-2187 knows, because of the little whimper of pain, and then he saunters off as if nothing had happened.

FN-2187 grabs his ration and runs off to his hiding place, not looking—not caring—whether the blue man follows.

(He does, of course.)

“What—why would you _do that_?” FN-2187 screams at him once they’re alone. “How could you—?” He doesn’t know which question to ask first, what will make the blue man admit he was wrong to stop him, make him apologize. Or—make him admit that it was all just talk. That he never truly cared about FN-2187 in the first place. FN-2187 just wants to _know_ , he doesn’t care which option the blue man chooses. Only, despite his fury, he does.

Or maybe it isn’t FN-2187. Maybe… Bile rises in his throat. “It it because it was Zeroes? You’ve never liked him, never liked any of my friends. And don’t you dare say he’s not my friend, I know I’m just Eight-Seven to him, who cares? I didn’t even want the blob candy anyway! I don’t care. He’s a person!”

The blue man is silent for a second when FN-2187 stops shouting, like he’s careful not to talk over him if it turns out he wasn’t finished. Maybe the blue man will _listen_ to him. (Maybe this is salvageable.)

But then he says, “He was not in any danger—”

“Not in any danger?! What was that _truncheon_ then that I must hallucinated.”

“You misunderstand me,” the blue man says, rubbing his right forearm. “Skin and bones… Skin will knit together, bones heal. There is no sun here to fester the wounds fast. Your friend will _live_. You, though. If you had… Why do you think Ben is here? Force-sensitive children are a valuable commodity. You, if they had found you, if they'd ever laid eyes on you, you would beg for death. You would lose everyone. The friends you sacrificed everything for would hate you. He'll twist and manipulate, and you'll wish you were dead, until the moment you no longer care what you have become, when he has succeeded in making a _thing_ of you that is more efficient in controlling your master’s slaves than _he_ is, because it doesn’t matter, does it? Nothing matters. She’s already dead. You've killed her. You will torture your own daughter who you have never known, and you will watch him killing your son and still feel the need to _obey_ —” He stops, breathing heavily, and lets go.

(FN-2187 only now notices that the blue man had grabbed his shoulder in his desperation to be heard, hard enough to bruise if it hadn’t been for the armor. Even so, it twinges. Discreetly, FN-2187 rubs his arm.)

“Forgive me,” the blue man says. “That was uncalled for.”

And FN-2187 understands. He goes back to the scene in the hallway, swapping fury for terror on the blue man’s face, and coldness for the bone-clenching despair of someone who knows the world is wrong, and that they will have to teach a child to live there, regardless.

Of someone who survived his nightmare, only to watch another stumble in.

“It’s okay, I’m sorry—”

“It isn’t,” the blue man says firmly. “Know this, and remember it: It is an old lesson. I forgot. My mother knew it, and hers and hers before that. Sand is obedient under your feet, they say, but it will slide out of the hand that holds it. The masters may seem like they want pain, and some of them do. They may humiliate you before your friends, and your friends in front of you, and expect you to laugh with them. They will expect you to see their side, and their side only, because to them, there is no other side. There are no other beings with thoughts and tricks and duplicities and hopes involved, to the master. He will expect you to laugh at your degradation, and laugh, you will, because you want to _live_.

“He won’t see _you_ , though. No-one will. They will not notice the life you carve for yourself, out of their sight. They wouldn’t even notice if you rewire their guns, which they carelessly leave on their bed when they go out drinking in the evening without even properly locking the door,” he looks meaningfully at FN-2187, “if you rewire those guns to blow up in their faces. Or accidentally mention to your Lieutenant Phasma what is being done to loyal soldiers out of her sight, because if nothing else she will want to protect her investment.

“And when the storm comes, the desert will rise and it will scrape and tear off the flesh of everything caught in its path. That day _will_ come,” he whispers, “But to see it, young one, you first need to survive.”

FN-2187 thinks of Slip, who’d gotten a harvester beetle to carry him around once and had been so proud, and Nines, who hates the festive Fern potato ration bars but still eats them because he wants to be strong, and Zeroes, who’s pulled an Idiot’s Array on FN-2187 every single time he’d been about to win.

He promises, “We will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Dark, man, dark.
> 
> ... Anakin probably has a very skewed view of what good lessons for children/teenagers are.
> 
> [TheFreakWithTheWings](http://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFreakWithTheWings) and [Sailor Bluestar](http://archiveofourown.org/users/sailorbluestar) both mentioned Finn better not getting caught with his Force skills, and while at first I was like, Pfft Finn is sensible, actually this is pretty likely. Finn loves his people a lot. At least with Anakin projecting all over the place, he'll definitely not do it now, even if Anakin's life is pretty obviously the absolute worst worst case scenario.
> 
> I do like people misinterpreting other people's emotions, it's one of my chief joys in pov fic. Finn is very perceptive and Anakin emotes a lot, so it's not like this is going to happen often, but still I generally try to keep with describing the pov character's emotion and other people's body language. I'm very bad at reading facial expressions in real life, I'm not entirely convinced that this "We know what people are thinking with just one look" thing isn't a massive conspiracy.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
